By Eric Stock
NORMAL – Colleges ‘kill’ plenty of trees to produce textbooks, metaphorically speaking.
Heartland Community College had to kill 90 ash trees recently because of the emerald ash borer.
“It looks pretty bare, a clean slate,” Heartland facilities director Jim Hubbard said. “In some sense it looks like a new campus.”
Hubbard said the ash trees that had lined the quad were all cut down after an infestation of the tree-killing beetle was first detected and no remedies worked.
Hubbard added the goal is to replace the trees with other, safer species.
“We’ll more forward with a plan now to restore them with probably a variety of species,” Hubbard said adding Heartland is taking ideas from across the college and the community on what they would like to see planted
Hubbard noted it cost the school $23,000 to remove the trees and the school will likely need donations to plant anything in their place.
“In terms of us using our operating budget to fund it is probably unlikely and if so would be very low on the priority (list),” Hubbard said.
Hubbard said the school hopes to have designs for new species of trees to plant at the Quad by next spring.
Illinois recently lifted its quarantine restricting the movement of any cut, noncarnivorous firewood within the state because the beetle had been confirmed in more than 60 counties.
Heartland has about 400 trees of other species on campus.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.
